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D.E L I V E R E D 



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HENKV r. JOHNSON, ESQ, 



i£J)T SiO^^JI-J'iillliC&a U-»Sl« 



^^1 CON NEAUTVILLE, PA., 



SATURDAY, JULY 3d, 1858. 

IF V? }e I'- ■;; :S :i: H ® M"^- JE JF ■^. "fT If g T 



Si 



QToitrier Print, (*5oaticnnliulIc, Pn. 






1858. 






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my/' 



Al ®RATf© 



UELITERKD AT 

CONJVEAUTVIIiliE, PENSTJA, 

BY HENRY C. JOHNSON, ESQ., OF MEADVILLK... 



CORRESPONDENCE , 



CONNEAUTVILLE, PA., JuLY 5, IS/SS. 

H . C . Johnson, E sq . : — 

Dear Sir: Having been hic^blj entertainfld 
hy your Oration, delivered in this place on the occasion of our In- 
depetideuce Celebration on the 3d inst., and believincr that its, Tub- 
licfttion woiild interest and benefit the public generally, we there- 
fore request that a copy be eont to the Courier, at your leisure,, 
for that purpose. Truly Yo^ur.s, 

A. J. Mason, W.'F. Owen, G. W. Zahnisbk, Jkssk Smitj), 
C. 13. Power, Sv G. Kkick, J. G. Foster, and others. 



Meadville, Pa., July 6, 18.58. 
Okntlkmkw: 

I have received your letter of yesterday ; and in obedi- 
erce to your request, I enclose, for publication, a copy of iny Ora 
tion, delivereJ at your place, on the occasion of your celebration of 
the last anniversery of our Declaration of Independence. 

]l33pectfully, HENRY C. JOHNSON. 

To Messrs, A. J. Makon, Dr. W. F. Owen, Rev. G. W. Zaun 
i3KK,Jp8SK Smith, C. B. Power, &. G. Krick, Jambs Q.FoaTBKi 
Mid others. 



i 



Mk. Pkhsidem — Ladies and Gentlemek: 

We bail the Fourth of July! We hail it as a d:iy maJe glo- 
riously immortal, by one of the most s\iblirae achievements thas 
was ever conceived in patriotism or executed in hinnau wisdom, 
since the foundations of the earth began. Thus consecrated, wo 
hail its return in the calendar of time, as our great national Sab- 
bath, vi'hen we can all,, with one accord, seek rest from our secular 
labors and honor the day with appropriate observances; when meii- 
of every political faith, mutually laying aside their partizan differ- 
ence, aa unbecoming the day, meet together iaonecoujmon brother- 
hood, to recount, with filial affeciiou, the deeds which our fathers 
liave done; to con, anew, the lessens of virtue and polity which their 
wisdom bas taught us; and to renew, at the altar of our Csuiitry, 
our vows of eternal devotion to her best interest — her integrity, one- 
and indivisible. In this spirit, we may take a retrospect of ouf 
history, taking example from its brightness, admonition frotn il.^ 
^hades, and dwelling with astjon.iskment upou' our unp^r;\lleleti 
advancement in population ; in the nianura«?tiiring arts; in agricul- 
tural and commercial wealth ;. and in educational facilities, since our 
jiatriot fathers declared to the world, this day, eighty-two years ago; 
that we were, "and of a right ought to be, a free and independent 
people.'' Id this spirit, loo, we may speculate upon our future, as 
it presents itself in wonderful progression, until the power of num- 
bers fails in making up an aggregate of the constituents of our ua- 
lional greatness. For these things, as a band of brothers, in the 
brotherhood of our nationally, we hail the Fourth of July. We 
liKil it with the sounds of war as it is ushered into being; we hi il 
it with songs of triumph at early dawn ; we hail it with the horn 
of plenty at the festive board, through the meridian hours; and. wv. 
hail it throughout the live long day, in high rejoicings. All hailf 
to the Fourth of July; and may it ever be hailed in its recurring 
seasons, by us, as a virtuous, united, enlightened, free and prospeious 
people, until the " A.ngel shall stand with his right fool uj)on the sea 
and his left loot upon the solid land, and swear by Him that livelh 
for ever and ever, tliat time was, time is, but time shall be no more.'' 

It Un^ heretofore, bjeep, too general a custom of our Fourth of Jul^ 



4 INDEPENDENCE ORATION, 

orators, to draw upon tbe ancients and their mythology; other 
v;ountries and their illustrious names for oratorical figures, compari- 
sons and examples. And singularly enough, Romo, the worst of 
Jill nations, comes in for the best of all adjectives in these effusions. 
'Of all nations of tbe earth, in times past or present, the Roraaas 
■are the very last people that we should take as an example.* 

Ttike them all in all, in the mass, they were among the meanest, 
cruelest, vilest, most perfidious, gross and brutal wretches, that ever 
Htained the face of the earth. From the moment when (if this he 
•not as some writers think, a fable) the wolf suckled Romulus bru- 
tally butchered his brother at the founding of the civilization, thu* 
inaugurating the planting of the state with g murder, to the hour 
■when tbe hoarse blood-roar of the legions of Titus rrse over tbe 
^hideous sack and slaughter of Jerusalem, and from thence, to that 
Mes'sed day when the sohIs of trampled nations lived again in tbe 
*;torm of the Huns- that swept asvay the tottering fabric of the 
Kinpire — from first to Irret, Roman history is a dreadful clot of cru- 
elty, ignorance, lust, robbery and murder, 

Tbo wild milk ihat the infant Roinnlus drew from the teats of 
tbe wolf, was in the veins of the nation from the beginning to tht* 
•end. The government began in a brutal oligarchy, and ended in ;i 
most rampant, profligate and violent des;potism. I'he society, iu 
the main, was always corrupt and gross. Filthy licentiousness was 
the vice of all classes. The popular amusement., always a good in- 
dication of tbe character of a people, was the amphitheatre, wh-jrn 
the unhappy gladiators, the best men of conquered nations, were 
forced to tight for tbe p'<?asure of the degraded populace; in tlui 
Ntern phrase of Byron, "bwlchered, to make a Roman holiday," — 
liut the brute element was always uppermost; and when the stala 
had been sufficiently permeated with those fine qualities to produce 
noble or faithful men, what did the state do with them ? Insulted, 
plundered, proscribed, exiled and murdered them. Witness SpH- 
rius Casius, Coriolanus, tbo Gracchi, Marins, Regulus, lielesariuB 
and mRny others. 

Always at war-; always engaged in the work of conquest nni 
subjugation; irjunpling out the life of some noble but weakcT m»- 
tiou than their own; dragging behind their gilded chariots a loritr 
train of unhappy captives; never showing magiianimity enough lo 
respect the buiniliaiion of the conquered ; but adding the insult o( 
exhibition to the distress of defeat; and commoidy ending the in- 
('Hrn«l piigcant by executing at the foot of tlio Capiiol 'an mount, 
ihe vaiiquislied hero of the land they had swept v,'ilh fiio and sward, 
(Sccli were the Romans I Such wero tbo brutes and blackguards 



*A portion of the views Iiere expresFeH in regard to the Roinar.s, a^« 
from tlie pen of a disiinijuislied I'hiladelph'.a editor, for which lam iiw 
,4'!>'|>ted to a tiigtilj- e:^leel.ped Irieutl. 



INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 5 

-Vho aro 50 often, on occasions of tl.is kind, held up to us as exampie«. 
11)18 1 look upon as inappropriate to our present Ijcrhts; as un- 
American in taste; as ilireadbare in .stvle; and a ° lacking the 
comprehensiveness of intellect to ^jrasp our own stupendousness 
which hirnishes more than the ancients ever dreamed of, or other 
A-'iimes attained, in so short a lime. 

Are not the ^lessed toachings of our Holy Religion, more heau- 
tilul, sublime, and fecuna of good, than all that has ever emanated 
from the Pantheon? Does not the valor, patriotism, and wisdom 
01 our tatJiers, rival the valor, patriotism and wisdom of the ancients ? 
And IS not our direct republican thought, mo.t appropriately coa- 
^eyed by tamiliar hgures and comparisons, in vijrorous an.rlosaxon. 
■Other ages have produced no equal to our own^WAsniNGTOv and 
no superiors to our own eloquent and gallant Henry Clay or our 
own heroic and invincible Andrew Jackson. Nor have oth.^r 
dimes a people more intelligent, warlike, independent and prosper- 
ous than our own ; nor hav« they a country more fertile, exDansiv« 
and inviimg than ou.s. When we conte'mplate our own "heroes 
and the grounds made classic by their heroism: our statesmen and 
the eternal impressions of their wisdom; our country and its areat 
jlesliny, with what feelings of proud disdain do we turn front th^ 
literature wr.ich seeks for models of heroes in the rubbish of past 
centuries, and for examples of governments in foreign climes. 

VVe i^hould have an oratory and a literature peculiarly our own • 
Rn oratory and a literature essentially American; which lon.^s for 
no greater mode! than our own Washington; which holds no^clas, 
ot statesmen in greater veneration than our own Revolutionary 
bathers; which recognises no form of government as superior (,'.> 
that which a wise and virtuous people rules; and which nftects 
nothing, in style, beyond the expression of ideas in plain Encri.h. 
We should .ea'n to think as Americans, and to write as Ameru^ans ; 
and for these purposes our own great names at:d our own brief but 
brnii^nt history, furnish well-stored maga-iines of the necessary 
material . With a literature of our own, and an imag.-rv from ouV 
own great names aiid iJistinguishing events, our pec"ili«riiies as n 
^^or^rmnent and our history as a people, the virtues, wis.lom an,^ 
^.eeds or our ancesters are promif.onlly arrayed for our emulaiion; 
ino prmciples of our government are made familiar as household 
wordfi: and our mission among the nations of the earth, thu^ over 
ndmonishes m of the duty which we owe to ourselves and of 1)10 
example which we should Pet to the oppressed of other climes 
H-nlortammg these views, [ will not on this occasion, further oHen-J 
your ear with a Roman name or the act of any man who did not 
hohl as the basis of his political faiih, that human governnu-ni 
only legitimately emanates from ,and of a right belongs to the peopl,. 
Xta causes which impelled ua to a separation from tho moih«f 



6 INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 

country have just been read to you from our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence; but the results of th?.t separation, no human power can 
estimate, so immense is their magnitude and so rapid their devel- 
opements. The greatest and most immediate resuk, however, was 
the organization of the confederation upon the principle announc- 
ed in the Declaration, that "governments among men derive tlieir 
just powers from the consent of the governed." This is the basis of 
our government, and from it have emanated those re'sults which have 
challenged the admiration of the world. The body and soul of 
our being, is comprised in the union of the States and government 
by the people. The union of the States and government, by die 
jieople is the principle upon which and for which, our Constitution 
wa« framed ; and its roots have spread so wide and shot so deep, that 
it would be easier to upheave the everlasting hills than to extir- 
pate it from our soil. 

As now organized, our government is a Democracy formed up- 
on the experiment of rei)resentation. All power exercised by 
the representative is derive:!, either directly or indirectly, from the 
j)eople. By the theory of our government, all power belongs to 
the people, to be delegated or resumed by them at pleasure. In 
short the government is 0/ the people and for the people. The 
idea of representation and executive powers, forms no part of its 
principle. There is nothing but the Constitution, which, by the 
observance of certain form.s, may itself be altered or amended, to 
prevent the people from at once resuming any of the powers which 
they have intrusted to others. In several of the States they have 
exercised this power. For example, in Pennsylvania, the whole 
Judiciary of ihe State, from Chief Justice to Justice of the Peace, 
were appointed by the Governor; as were the Auditor General, 
Surveyor General, Canal Commissioners, Prothonators, Registers 
and Recorders; but the people, at one time and another, took 
the appointments of those officers from the Executive and made 
them elective. This did not, in tl:e least, ;itfect the principle of the 
government. The people merely resumed a power, which, after 
exjieriment, they thought ilid not work well in the hands of others. 

They have in this way limited the Executive authority, and why 
not the Legi.-ilalive ? The people have maJe both Governors ami 
Legielators; and they have the same power to unmake that ihey 
Jjad to create. They made the (!onstitutio'';s, definmg and limit,- 
iiig ditt'ereut branches of the government; and by viilue of their 
sovereignty, these. Constitutions they may alter or amend. 

Suppose that the people sliould wish to abolish Legislation by 
Senatois and Reprosentatiies, ana to legislate for lliemselvea in, 
]>0Dular assemblies, can their rijhi to do so be queet'oned ? Aro 
not the people sovereign ? 

Assuming it as «.ot disputed, that the people haive tho rig^Ut ta 



INDEPENDENCE ORATION. T 

modify the present system of legislation, it becomes a grave ques- 
tion if they should uot, to some extent, exercise it. In the great 
majority of iu.-itances, men who entrust the management of their 
business toothers, sooner or later, discover that their interests have 
been neglected or that they have been defrauded by their agents. 
K very day's experience in life, shows this to be the case. It has been 
80 from the time Jacob took advantage of his position, to despoil his 
father-in-law, Laban, of his Hocks, down to the ])reseut d iv ; and so it 
will be,to theseltiugin of the Millenium. If private individuals with 
sll their watchfulness become the spoil of iheir representatives, how 
can the ung'uatded public hope to fair better ? Tlie greater portion of 
onr modern law makers, are nothing more nor less than legalized 
j)lunderers of the public coflers. This is a harsh truth to utter; 
but nevettheless, it is a truth — a truth which we should bear iii 
mind, and not reject as some do. under a miserable affectation of 
:; sickly sentimentality, which is shocked at its utterance ou the 
Fourth of July, while in reality, they reject it through a squeamish 
nnd innate aversion to truth, on any occasion or at any lime, simply 
because it is the truth. 

Of the millions annually collected from the pockets of the peo- 
ple, in ihe shape of revenues, by far the greater portion is filched 
from the Treasury, by political jugglers, through ilie legerdemain 
of legiilatiou. Any kind of a claim, no matter how destitute it 
^nay be of merit, can tie worked through Congress or our Legisla- 
lur*^, now-a-days, provided, \l is large enough to sop the niem- 
<>er8. Hundreds of claims of this kind, are passed in indecent haste 
and with a shameless disregard of duty, while thousands, which 
are meritorious-, are coldly passed over and neglected, from yt- r.r 
ix> year, until claimants are so disheaitoned or impoverished ih;ii 
they abandon the f5eld. Old soldiers; the widows of old soldiers; 
aTid honest creditors o'f the government must be deferred in their 
)»rayers, if there is a stupendous fraud upon the carpel. Look a: 
the liiillioRs upon millions of acres of the public domain, whicli 
have l)«on grunted to Railroad companies, and other associated 
Np<;cu!ators! Look at the millions of dollars that were bribed oui 
(jf ihe Treasury under the glare of the noon-day sun, as ''Oceau 
Slea.Mi Mail Money." Look at the milliotis which have otherwihO 
t»eon squandered and with scarcely the shadow of a claim — mor<i 
than enough to hnve provided for the declining years cf the oai 
Sclciers of the War of 1812, and their widows; and yet, those 
very old Soldiers, were turned coldly away from the Capitol, where 
they had assembled to ask for justice, from Cotigruss. Yes I to 
flu; eternal disgrace of llie American Congress, bo it said, that 
whil« they sqi:andereu land on unworthy obj«ects by the miilior;, 
our old Soldiers were coldly turned away to Rtnive, beg or porij-li. 
IMuiider XfM the order of the day, and honorable wound? and fcerv- 



8 rNDEPENDEiNCE ORATION. 

ices, Uie clocropitude of age, and claims upon our gratitude codT'-P 
not then be regarded. 

Look at the characters of many of our own State Legislatorft !' 
It is the boast of lobby borers that they can be bought up hke^ 
baef in the slia'ubles; and that money will buy any kind of cor- 
porate privilegefv-, tlongh adverse to the general welfare. What is 
legislation in these times, hut a system of shameless robbery by its 
authors, or the surrender of the best interests and most cherished' 
lights of the people, to the tender mercies of some cormorant cor- 
poration that has neither heart to feel nor soul to save. It is n»t' 
necessary now to call names, but look at those things, you who 
have at last to foot the bills and suffer the consequences, and put 
it to yourselves, if we have not too much legislation thai is s.tanip- 
«.'d with disgusting stupiiiity, cr brazen-faced villainy; and too lit- 
tle that is redeemed by the impress of \7isd0m and a desire for 
the popular good. 

We have too much legislalion,.ahd always will have, so long a"^ 
there is more of it than the people can read and digest. Ov:r 
liiieory of representation carries with it the idea of accountability 
10 the people; but if the people are not made aware of the jicti<»n> 
of the representative, how are they to iiold htm accountable? Li 
Pennsylvania, the Journal but seldom reaches the people; and we 
can learn nothing of our Legislative prf)ceedings from the Legis- 
lative Keconl. The man that goes- to that source for information, 
lias confusion worse confounded. The information can scarcoly be 
. gleaned from our Acts of Assembly; for they are published at 
such times, and are so voluminous, that they remain almost as seal- 
ed books till tha law makers are again at work. The Acts of 1855, 
and those of 18.56 and 1857, make up for each year, a closely 
printed volume of nearly 800 pages; and those of 1858, will most 
likely overrun that number. Those laws but seldom reach us be- 
fore Jidy or August. Now, how is it poRsible to wade throujih, 
weigh and digest 800 p;iges of Laws between the middle of July 
.Hiid the election in October, so as to pass upon the siowardship 
of the representative? If legislators must make 800 compact 
})ages of laws at a Session, let them meet but once in three or four 
yearn; so that those who are to be aticcted by the laws and are 
to obey them, can have a chance to find out what they are. When^ 
we are inundate 1 by more laws than we can read without letting 
thd plow stand iu the furrow, the idea of the masses being famil- 
iar with the laws which they are to obey, is simply absurd; ami 
the theory of Representative accountability is entirely impractica- 
ble. But still, notwithstanding this deluge of laws; in spile of 
this monstrous abuse of Legislation, we are a great, a wonderful' 
}«nd a growing people. We arc scf because the principle tnaimains- 
ihat the people are supreme. 



INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 3" 

Tli0 EOi'ereignty of the people, impresses every mau with nn in- 
cVividualily ; and is calculated to develope in ibe citizens those cori- 
i»tituent8 of true manhood, ii|)on which (he State will flourish in 
times of peace, and in which it will find a defence, solid as adaman- 
tine rocks, in lime of peril. Show me a man with the feeling of 
an American, and I wil! show you one erect and upright; creat- 
ed in the imaoe of God, and feeling that he has a soul in bis body. 
In proportion as the people of a Stale appro^ich the highe>i 
standard of intelligence, virtue, industry aad self-reliance, so are 
the real sources of their nalional prosperity enhanced and establish- 
«*d; and these qualities flourish best, when and- where, each man 
feels that he is a sovereign, as we do. Look about you, and you- 
will find thnt you are surrounded by men. Aye! men, who fee! 
that they were born into the world wiih certain rights; that they 
are equals amoHg men ; and that they have duties as citizens. — 
Aye, men! not things in the forms of men , that have had their 
souls ground out by ibeiron heels of Europi-'an despotism. When 
you stiikt^ hands with Auiericans, you thauli God that they arw 
your countrymen;, tiiat you and ihey were bom under a govern- 
juent recognizing the doctiine of the piirfeclability of manhood; 
the capacity of rueti' for self-sfovernment;. and the sovereignty of 
t'.ie people. The manhood, self-reliance and enterprise of Aineri- 
saiis, their attachment to the State, are all attributable to the doc- 
trine that the people are supreme — a doctrine, to which we trace 
r.ur present and growing greatner^s, in spite of any stupid or vi- 
jCious administraiion of our atfairs in legislation or otherwibe. 

Under the [>i'inciple of popular sovereignty, we have grown into- 
>iuch colossal juoportions that our numerous si)rings of wealth, our 
Mufolding Rtretjgih and our strides to the very first place among the 
powersof the earth, can hardly be ascertained. By law, a census 
is taken every ten years; but previous to the lasc census, the labiirsi 
in this department were attended with but few satisfactory result*:, 
'i'be last census however, under the superinlendency of Joseph C. 
G. Kenneb.\y Esq.. formerly of this County ,. a man of untiring 
industry, great latent, varied attainment and wonderful method, 
was intended to be such an exploration and exhibit of our various 
economy, as would give to the world' and ourselves, a realizing 
(sense of what we are, and are yet to be. The task was a hurcjlean 
one. A force of a hundred clerks with the aid of many gentlemen 
<tf distinguished attait)ment's in different parts- of the country, weie 
«Mnploy(id upon it for yt^ars; and then it was not com[»lvited ac 
cording to the dosiijn of Mir. Kennedav, owing to his removal 
, from its direction. If all this force w«re thus employed for ye r-,it 
; would hardly do for me to attempt, here, even an abstract of iis labo--. 
It may not be uninieresting liowc-ver, to lake a passing glance 
»t bO UiUL'h of our d(.',Vclopement, as is presented within, the coii*jj>;4o9. 



10 INDEPENDENCE ORATiOH. 

of onj" O'wn countj and the few years which have elapsed sifice J' 
was under the dominion of the Aborigines. A little more than 
>jxty years ago, there was not a whjte resident witbin what is no* 
Crawford County. Our primeval forests had not then \yeen rjiarred 
hy the white man's as; and ibe deer, the bear, the hnffalo and th« 
wolf roamed through them ia therr native eon&dooce while the 
beaver dammed and tba SrouJ played in oar lin>pid stream'?. 

Over all these the red man helsi his wild do'minjon^ and his righs 
there was none to dispute. I5nt »ow, how great the change.-— 
Those majestic foresis have succumbed to the woodman's ax; toe 
hutfrtlo has sought refuge from his dread foe, ihe while man, on the 
far, far distant slopes of the Rocky Moiuilsi'Ds; the beaver dair- 
has given v<ay to the mill dam; the red men have been aucmoned 
one after another to joif> their fathers in the spirit lacct, until they 
have all been gathered to their Measedi hautjng ground beyond the 
narrow confine which separates lime from eternity ; and row , a new 
race descended from the lineage of a strange land, lord it where tliey 
were so reetnlly alxsolute masters. "What a change is here; and trho 
can ccnvem plate it without eraotiows of sadness. With me- tire 
contemplation of such a change is tinged with a feeling of profoun-d 
inelancboly. It has pleased Providence, thos far, to crowd more of 
varied incident into the short sjian of my fleeting years, that genet- 
ally fii'ls to the lot of men in a- life time; and there has been muub 
jn my chequered destiny, to bind me to our red brethien in ties of 
re.«p€Ciful commiseration and affectionate regard . For weeks arrd 
months, my wayward wandering* have made me the companion of 
llie Indian, in hi.« camps on the open plain snd in mountain fasi- 
liess. I have seen him on the war trail and have Imnleti with hmi 
in the buffalo path^, I have known anv:) studied him in his native 
wilds, 86 he staod, protul, erect ftnd lordly as CJod made bim, aiwi 
before he w?»s bowed down by civilization and its contaminaiing intiu- 
•>nces; and I must »ay, I arrj the fast friend of ihe red nian. 1 have 
broken bread with Governors; I have quatfed wine with Senators; 
and I have found comfori in the lowly cat of the poor; but nowhere 
whether in maible halls, in the chambers of hegislalion, or in the 
KjUHlid huts of poverty, have 1 seen nwre of frank hospitality, more 
( f lh*i Self sacrificing spirit of friendship, or of ihe slcn devotion of 
patriotism, tliitn 1 have experienced )n the c;i:iip cr seen at the 
t»i)uncll fire of iLe Indian. Go tD the Indian's lodge, and ia the 
fullness of hif hospitality, he will share wiih yon his last morse! o* 
f(>o<.i ; tax his friendship or his honor, and you will f7nd him true a^ 
lliM dial lo tl.e son; invoke Iijh pairioiism, and he will siiow liirn- 
felf ready lo lav down his life for his tribe. In nhort, ihe Indiai), 
ij> his native 6tate, has in llieir rijx'ness, al! of out vaunted viriu-et 
and none of our lamented vicoH. 

It li bvkl ^.vtivrii' that we uhovild ospevitne* a pang ij: w*lne»8i?>^' 



INDEPENDENCE ORATION. II 

tiie exod'as or exiinction of such a people; «nd when we nm back 
the short retrospect which witnessed the red man's dominion over 
the very grounds that we now stand upon, w« weep that the dawn 
•pf our pow-er should have extinguished the sob <»f the Seoecas.- — 
Upon (he hills and in the valhes which we now inhabit, generation 
iiftff genera I. ion of this iolerestiKg people has been born, has lived 
iind has passed away; but there is none now left of their long line'i 
C't' heroes and sages, nor of their race, to tell us of their former 
greatness; to recount their deeds of heroism in defense of their 
'.ountry ,• or to relate tlie fad taJe of their eufterings . None of their 
thousand.^ who have lived in the mutations of centuries, nnw stand 
here to tell us of those things: but in their steatl, behold ! the brave 
sons and lovely daughteis of their usurping conqueror. 

Who, to look upon our rich fields and elegant improvements, in- 
<licaiing all the comforts and conveniences of the old settlements, 
■would suppose that wilhin the memory of men now living, unbroken 
iTorests and Indian wigwams occupied their place. Ilere^nd there 
are yet scattered among us, venerable men of a former generation, 
whoe^nigrated to this section while yet the Indians held the country. 
Had Gn<3 of those hardy pioneers then gone into a Rip Van Winkle 
felfeep, and awakened again in our times, the change which would 
have presented itself, would have appeared to his bewildered sensea 
like the work of magic. While they were enduring all the priva- 
tions and braving aU ithe dangers of their precarious efforts to estab- 
lish a foothold for themselves, on the soil where the warlike Sene- 
gas held dominion, which oue of them in his fondest dreams, could 
[lavG hoped that the first ma'ie white child born among them, should 
live to witness the happy conditioc to which we have attained. — 
And yet, the first male white child, Ijoru in this county, han lived 
to see al! these thicgs, and to afford in his own singular history, 
iidditicnal and pleasing ilJuslrations of the changes and progress 
which we are considering. This child was owr respected fellow 
citizen, David Dick, who is known to most of you, and who is not 
unknown to hotorable fame. Mr. Dick is now in the sixty-spcond 
year ot his age. This child that was born among us when our hardy 
fore-fathers had but few more comforts of life than the savages that 
surrounded them; when their greatest stock of nnanufacturing and 
agricultural implements were their rude axes and equally rude hoes; 
tvhen schooJs we^-e sca^-cely thought of; and vvheii the greatest of 
parental Fohsitude wasfar the p-i'Oteetion of lender offspring fmnt 
wild beasts and prowling Indians — this child grew with our growth 
witnessing and contributing to it, until the holding of the World's 
Fair, at London, in 1851, when aJI civilized nations were there iu 
competition, through their representatives. The distinctions were 
itiedalliou prizes of various grades; and the nation v.' hich won tliem 
iluvu^h. iier citi^eas^ vsm coQsidersd hoooied . Asia, Afi ica, 



n INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 

Europe and Ameri-o-i, were there represented. There was Llie 
Frenchman, the Geriuan, the Turk, the Arab, the Russian and the 
Enghshman; and there too, in competiUon with the representativi-,; 
of ©ations which had devoted centuries to their improvement, via: 
the first male white cliildof Crawford County, with his"Anti-Fric- 
lioii Press." Tbe struggle was for iho "Great Medala,'' or the fir.^; 
honor of the Fair. 

In this unequaled contest, the man whose genins expanded 
througli its own originality, from tlie time be was rocked in his 
tugar-trough cradle witli its rude surroundings, carried one of the 
great medals, and bore it back in triumph to tbe fcenea thai had 
«o recently been the a'bodo and the hunting ground of the red niau. 
Our tirst born ma'o white child, whos3 infancy witnessed the dawn 
•four power and the firsi decline of that of the Seneeas, repre- 
sented us at that Fair as second to none in established civil- 
ization and its incidents. How suggestive is the brief history of 
ibis child, of our ahiiost instanthoeous bursting forth from the bii.5 
into full bloom. 

In a memoir of the late General Mead, the following passages 
occur, which fix the dates of some of our early settlements, and 
show something of the hardships and dangers to which our first 
settlers were exposed. 

*^in 1788, Gen. Mead, accompanied by his brother, John Mead. 
visiied the country north and west of the Ohio, Allegheny, anr} 
Connewango Creek, then a wilderness, in 17S9, he removed with 
his family to the banks of French Creek. Some time afterward", 
he obtained, from the stale, a remuneration, in hnd^, to the amount 
of an official valuation of those, at Wyoming, of which ho had been 
vHspossessed. 

"After neveral years of incessant trouble, toil, and h.^rdships, Ids 
prospects began to brighten, but they were soon overcast by a dark 
and gloomy cloud. Another Indian war began, which bore .'i 
menacing aspect npon all the infant settlements in this western 
rountry. Many fled beyond the reach of the savage foe; but lliose 
who remained, were exposed to constant perils and were obliged to 
submit to various privations. In these times of al^rm and dniiger, 
Gen. Mead was conspicuously distinguished by the tirm .siui un- 
clrtunted part bo was called in Providence to act. Having an impor- 
tant interest in this country and being almost without weans cf 
removal, to a plaice of greater security, and of subsistence, m cas«j 
he could have effected it, he coi;iinue*'l on his plantation resohitt^ly 
determined to brave every danger and to yield to every ii>evit.<ib!*» 
>»rival:on, while the war should exist. It may hero ht^ remarke*! , 
iMat few have had a greater share of dishearteninu difficuhleA in 
iwivftte life, and that few have ever borne them with gr^atw 
r-quanimifv. The war wns,£t length, happily terminated, bj vitb. 
VVnjne, in 1791.'* 



INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 13 

""For several months in iVOljivien the Indians, -were dailv ex- 
pected to attempt the utter exermination of the people on Frencli 
Creek, Gen. Mead with his family resided at 'Franklin, which is 
twenty-five miles ftom Mesidville, in order that he might have it 
in his power to repair to the garrison in that place as ihe dernier 
Tesort. During this period, hia lather was taken hy two Indians 
from a field, where ho was at work, and carried to the vicinity of 
Oonneaiit Lake. Some days after, he was found together with one 
«f the Indians, both dead and bearing such marks of violence, as 
showed that they had had a contest; and it was deemed probable, 
that the other Indian had been wounded, in the renconnter, from 
the circumstance of his companion being left unburied." 

A Geographer, under the date of 1804, in bounding Penn?ylva- 
Tiia, says, \l-jat"it is bounded on the north by the Iriquois or Five 
Nations of Indians." The same Geographer, from the stand poin^ 
of 1804, in the spirit of prophecy, and looking far into futurity, in 
speakmg of the future of Western Pennsylvania, says : "This country 
will, in future, be one of the most advantageous commercial situa- 
tions in America, having in a manner the key of the Indian trade. 
The fur trade will center here in less than half acentury." In 1804, 
the fur trade was the great trade of the country, enlisting the capital 
and energies of such men as Gen. Ashley, Stephen Girard, Pierre 
Chsnto and John Jacob Astor; and giving employment to many 
hundred whites, besides the savage hordes extending from the 
lyforthern Lakes, back to the Pacific Ocean. 

This prophetic geographer little dreamed that long before the 
o«pirationof the half century which was to make us the key to the 
Indian trade, and the center of the fur trade, an Indian would be 
as much of a curiosity in Western Pennsylvania, as an African lion; 
Mid that the fur trade would be almost wholly limited to barter 
in the hid«s of such unfortunate domestic cats, as should becom-j 
the spoil of our enterprising village boys. 

But to return to our owe times. I am not one of those croakers 
who delight to discouree^upon the supposed degeneracy of our own 
times. No such impressi^jn finds a place in my mind. There may 
be, and doubtless are individual liostaocos of degenerate sons of 
worthy sires; but tliat we as a people have retrograded, in any 
particular, since Uoioniai or Revolutionary times, I wholly and 
t^niphaiicnlly deny. If we make allowance for the qualifying inll-i- 
♦noe of education, and the subduing tendencies of enlightened ae><i- 
datioD upon the harsher and coarser elements of our natures, wo wi]l 
iind we are the same now, that we were when our common Paren'. 
6*1 meanly and ungallantly attempted to charge the responsibility 
*i( Im disobed-ionce upon his weaker helpmate. 

.Pfij'cologiste itsU us, that iiuman nature ia 'the «&me in «v«rj 



J4 INDEPENDENCE ORATfON. 

age; and with the qualifications just adverted to, I accept this- ss- 
true; and I believe that it applies with equal force, to ail people, 
and to every clime. So far as our natwes are concerned then, we 
are no worse ofl" than were our sturdy ancestors. V/e have £joo<i 
reason to believe that we are a more robust people, than ihose'w'ho 
have preceded us for some centuries back. One of the evidences 
oi' this is presented in the fact of the iron armors, worn by tho 
knights in the Federal ages, and also those of the men-at-arrats 
which have been preserved in the different States of Europe, being 
now found, as a general thing, to be too small for persous of the 
same degree. Nor are we degenerate in physical endurance, nor 
in fortitude of mind, as is abundantly evidenced to the mind of the 
intelligent observer, in near and pass'ing events. What the mod- 
erns call Fatriotism, has been more or less conspieuous iu everv 
nation of which history has made a record. It wasthis that sustain- 
ed lovely and lovable women, during the siege of Jerusalem, in the 
dreadful alternative of eating their ^own delicate oiTsprinp-, or of 
opening the gates of the beleaguered city to the besieg.ers. ''it was 
this thatHred the action and braced the courag_e of our forefathers, 
in their sublimely heroic struggle for our Independence. It is thi& 
that glows in our hearts, and courses through our veins like light- 
ening, invoking all the horrors of war, rather than submit to the 
proud tread of a Britian, upon tho quarter deck of even our hum- 
blest merchantman, under his arrogant and insulting plea, of th* 
r:ght of seerc'i. It was this that sustained, the gallant tar as lie 
?unk back upon the gory deck, his life's blood jetting from his 
wounded,side, in turning his glaring eyes aloft to the °stafs anrl 
stripes at the mast head, and giving them three cheers before fali- 
ing back a corpse, to be numbered with our immortal who have 
uied in battle. And it is this, loo, that makes iis all feef that wo 
would rather be that humble tar, with no grave but the deep blue 
3e3. with no tears but the ocean's spray, ao^I no requiem but the 
billow's surge; than live to see a foreign hand pfaced sacrile^iouhJv 
i:pon that dear flag, that he so gloriously di€<l lo defend. " 

And here, by way of illustrating the glowing fervor of the pa- 
t'rolisra of our own country, let me relate an anecdote which never 
recurs to my mind, without exciting strong emotions of pleasure^. 
Daring the War with Mexico, a circus exhibited at our County 
Seat, just n V the news, of the hand to hand contest on the sao-. 
guinary tehi'of Bnena >ista, bad been received. Pubik; »nxie-ly 
nought after every incident of this fearfully unequal contest, where- 
in our brave volunteers were assailed five to one bv the flower of 
the Mexican regulars, commanded by Santa Anna,''in person. Na 
baule^ had been fought and victory won, in modern times, against 
such fearful odds; and the heart of the nation was struck wit"h va- 
vied sensibility. While wa tb-ew a funeral pdl over the honortfa 



mOEPE^JDENCE ORATION. 15 

>."sain of that fiivilJ, and mingled our maniy grief with the ■s:)rroW8 of 
their bereaved relatives, a sort of triumph weut up throughout tho 
the land, and Tc Deum was sung by a nation, rather than by clioirs, 
to God 'for the glory of the victory. Such was the slate of feeling 
at the time I speak of; but for the passing hour, all attention was aV>- 
•sorbed by the circus j^erforniers. At last, one of them underiooV: 
to personate dKferent characters by throwing otT one costume aiMJ 
exhibiting in anothor. In this, way he had personated the Higii- 
■iander, the Indian, and the Sailor, when he appeared in the In- 
fantry unifortu of a Soldier of the Army of the United .States, ar;J 
nhile in this character, a flag was thrown to hina, on which was 
inscribed the magic words: "tr^?ieraZ Taylor never surrender yP 

The scene thai followed the unfurling of this flag, beggars <!(•<- 
-criptioD. With one accord, the vast assemblage, men, women and 
•<iliildf€n arose to their feet, the men giving way to their feelin;^' \<\' 
cliter after cheer, and t'he kdics 'by waving their 'handkerchiefs-, 
while many, not only of the gentler but also of the sterner sex, 
burst into generous tears, of which they were not ashamed. If I did 
fjiot leave that circus a wiser and a better man, I did so with tho 
most exalted impressions of the patriotism of our sons and daugh- 
ters; and with an abiding conviction that, in this respect at leait, 
we had not fallen upon degeneraie times. 

Nor are we less wise ?n our ^^eneration than our fathers were. — 
Cdiurches, Colleges, Acaderaies-snd School Houses, flourish through- 
out the l«ngih and breadth of the land; and newspapers and boo4i^. 
«re so liUerally , patronized, that an army of one hundred ihousauti 
workmen are employed upon them, and still, the demand and s n- 
»plv is increasing. With these leading evidences to the cuntrarv, 
liie idea of our being a degeneratye people, in acy aspect, is to nw 
simply absurd. 

A popular government, to govern well, should know itstilf. I: 
should understand its rise, piugress, the causes which may shapa 
iu ends, and its capacity for good or for evil; and it is to the^iti 
tilings that I have endeavored to direct your attention. If theiri, 
'L have uitere<l one sentiment, lecurreil to a single fact, or drawrn 
">4oiitary inference, in the least calculated to promote the cause 'jf 
Truth, Liberty, and Justice, 5 know that in so doirg I have intvi- 
•Gst^d you, and theivin ray hibors are richly rewai'cred. 

Like every thing else of human structure, owr 'Government hns 
its imperfections. There is much in our history that we may K< 
justly proud of, and there are many things thai we fihould bittetiv- 
regret. The 'blffssings which we enjoy, and the good whi«;h w.^ 
Jia've done, we should be thankful for; but our errors we should 
scrupulously e>:amiue, and unsparingly correct. We should Kt* 
jjuSt to our equals, magnanimous to our inferiors, and grateftti t) 
♦ ijwse to whom gr.-'titude is due. 



]6 INDEPENDENCE OftATIOJ*. 

I am aware tuat we have our intestine troubles, and tliat there- 
are breakers ahead; but still, 1 have no fears nor misgivings as to- 
the future. At heart , our people feel a yearning love for our com- 
mon country, and an earnest desire to find a peaceful solution of 
all the diflficuUies which at present distract us. So deeply are they 
j^enotrated by these senliiiients, that their patriotic impressions 
will seek the surface, in spite of fanaticism north or south, and acu 
like subduing oil upon the troubled waves of agitation. 

Politicians may, for a period, mar ourimiversal harmony by 6*^c- 
tional issues, and threaten to uprear the black flag of disunion to 
gratify a wretched ambition or to advance unholy partizan aims; 
but such acts, no matter how specious their designs, must sooner 
or later, meet with the stern rebuke of a virtuous people. Aside 
from the confidence whiclL we have in the integrity of the masses 
(■f the Union, for th.e sake of the union and government by the 
])eople, there is much in our history to inspire lis with an abiding 
faith in the perpetuity of our insiitutions. He that holds nations 
in the hollow of His hand, has been to us a pillar of cloud by day, 
:tnd a pillar of fire by night, guiding us in safety to desired havfu-', 
when our most skillful pilots became despondent and trembled for our 
Safety, amid seen and apprehendiedi nation- wrecking dangers whicli 
beset our course. It is true that there have been other chosen jieo- 
]iie; but they were never abandoned until their hearts became per- 
^er^ed, and they lebellnd against their mission. We too, have a 
dutj' to the nations of the earth, who- are to learn from our example 
ihe elements of liberty, the capacity of man for self-governmenL. 
and the practicability of binding ditl'erent sections, and diverse in- 
ic-rc^sta, in a perfect union, by the centripetal power of the genor;;l 
•.velfare; and so long as the hearts of the people are true to this 
design, I have no fear for our prosperity as a unit, ror for either, 
nor any one cf the thirty odd plauka, composiag our gallant ship, 
of State. 

All hail then to the Fourth of July; and may each accuiinulat- 
i'lg year in our history, witness its return as a day of tejoicing to 
us ;i!4 a people.true to ourselves and to the blessed principles which in- 
anguratel our Revolution; and may it ever be hailed tliroughout 
the world,. by those who are stnigglin£r for tlie rights of human 
nature, as the great national Jubilee of the New World, who teach 
by fxample. how the down-trodden of the Old World, insiy become 
enfranchised, despite the armband armies of oppression. 

AH hail to tlie Fourth of July; and may it ever be hailed as the 
aniiiv«i«a<y of the annunciation of ciriain great moral and politicnl 
t'Uths, which shall (^hine as l)oacon lights from our adherence to. 
ttiem. until Liberty Hhall be everywhere procli'iined, and' Tyranny 
:i:id OpprcRsiou be no more known. 



E RR ATA. 

Page 14,8th line, for "Fedoral" read Feudal. 
1 age 14, 12Lh line, for "evidenced" read evinced. 
Page 14, 27th lino, for "glaring" read qlazinr/. 
J age 14, 36th line, for "country" read counti/, 
1 age lb, 2d line, for "sort" read skont. 
Page 10, 12th line, for "designs" read disguise. 



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